Hermann Schmidt (politician, 1851)

Lord Mayor Hermann Schmidt

Hermann Schmidt (born June 16, 1851 in Dedesdorf , Grand Duchy of Oldenburg ; † February 28, 1921 in Erfurt ) was a German lawyer , politician and Lord Mayor of Erfurt from 1895 to 1919 .

Life

Schmidt grew up in Dedesdorf on the Weser , studied law at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and became a member of the Corps Suevia Munich in 1872 . After his doctorate as Dr. jur. In 1875 he got a job as a court trainee in the civil service, became an assessor , in 1882 city counsel of Hildesheim and in 1890 second mayor of Halle (Saale) .

In 1895 Schmidt was elected Lord Mayor of Erfurt. His main tasks were to supply the city, which grew from 75,000 to 130,000 inhabitants during his tenure, with residential and commercial space and modern infrastructure, and to keep the finances in order. During his term of office the municipalization of the gas works, the construction of the electricity works in 1901, the construction of a sewage treatment plant, the construction of a central slaughterhouse, the construction of ten schools, the expansion of the city clinics, the establishment of the Dreibrunnenbad and Espachbad, the establishment of a city library, the creation of numerous parks and green spaces, such as the new city park at Daberstädter Schanze in 1908, the incorporation of Ilversgehofens in 1911, and the construction of the new main cemetery in 1916.

In order to cope with these tasks, Schmidt expanded the city administration to include some new offices, such as B. the youth welfare office and for the first time appointed a full-time garden director, an archive director and a library director. In 1912 he also appointed the 28-year-old art historian Edwin Redslob as museum director and the next year commissioned Henry van de Velde to plan a new museum, which, however, could no longer be realized due to the First World War . From 1895 to 1918 he represented his hometown in the Prussian manor house .

Thanks to his clever administration, Schmidt was finally able to guide Erfurt through the difficult times of the war and the November Revolution and to hand it over to his successor Bruno Mann in an orderly manner.

Street signs in honor of the Lord Mayors Richard Breslau and Hermann Schmidt

A new street in Erfurt's Brühlervorstadt was named after Hermann Schmidt .

literature

• Steffen Raßloff : The Lord Mayor of Erfurt since 1872 . In: City and History. Journal for Erfurt 35 (2007). Pp. 25-27.
• Mitteldeutsche Zeitung: Obituary of November 29, 1921
• Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung: Obituary of November 28, 1921

Web links

• Hermann Schmidt on www.erfurt-web.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 178 , 664